YouSaid · the spoken record

Joe Carlasare

lines on the record: 62
first: 2023-12-06
most recent: 2023-12-06
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I work both in Bitcoin and represent some crypto clients as well. And we've had talks about this at length. And I think what everybody who's listening to this, if they're involved in the Bitcoin space, should have in their mental model is that there will be laws that are passed internationally, nationally, state level, local level, that are overbroad, that are vague, that are confusing, that will not withstand scrutiny when challenged from a judicial perspective. What I mean by that is that a government regulator has an invested interest to craft the broadest possible legislation, the broadest possible rulemaking, because they don't want to have to be in a situation where they don't have the teeth to do what they need to do. Now, the problem with that, and we see this in many industries, they see this in the insurance contacts with some of my clients, when you have a very broad law that is confusing, that is vague, it is welcoming challenges, okay? And the way to fight back against this, I try to.”
2023-12-06 · We Study Billionaires · BTC159: Binance, GBTC, FinCEN and More w/ Joe Carlasare & HODL (Bitcoin Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, it's Vincent regulations in itself, but the Patriot Act has some internal U.S. rule making, but FinCEN at large has also has its own regulatory authority.”
2023-12-06 · We Study Billionaires · BTC159: Binance, GBTC, FinCEN and More w/ Joe Carlasare & HODL (Bitcoin Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In February of 2019, going back to 2019, the chief compliance officer, Samuel Lim, LIM, of Binance says, regarding Hamas transactions, Lim explained that terrorists usually send small sums as large sums constitute money laundering, and then his colleague replied, who they don't name the colleague, which is interesting, but it says, can barely buy an AK-47 with 600 bucks? Like, come on, they are here for crime. We see the bad, but we close two eyes. That's a quote from some messages that they're getting from the chief compliance officer at Binance. Wow.”
2023-12-06 · We Study Billionaires · BTC159: Binance, GBTC, FinCEN and More w/ Joe Carlasare & HODL (Bitcoin Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, listen, in cases I've been involved with, people think because they're sending it over signal, there's no way it gets out, which is just nonsense, right? Because there are numerous ways that if you compromise someone who's getting the message, they can preserve it, right? They can take a screenshot of it. They can take a photo of it, and they could preserve it. So it doesn't really get you off the hook. Once something is in writing, no matter how encrypted or how secure it can always be compromised. But one way I want to give to you, Preston, for the audience here. This is from the CFTC complaint. It was actually referenced in the government sentencing memorandum.”
2023-12-06 · We Study Billionaires · BTC159: Binance, GBTC, FinCEN and More w/ Joe Carlasare & HODL (Bitcoin Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The complaint's stunning. I mean, the amount of text messages and CZ signal that they were able to get is just amazing. It was a done deal, I think, when the CFTC's complaint was filed that there was going to be some charges coming. The only question is, you know, what variety of them, what plea was going to be negotiated. But yeah, I mean, there's no defense for that, right? There's actually a text, another one that says, you know, we see the bad and we look the other way, paraphrasing, but effectively like they knew that this was money laundering. They knew it was an unregistered exchange and they ignored it entirely.”
2023-12-06 · We Study Billionaires · BTC159: Binance, GBTC, FinCEN and More w/ Joe Carlasare & HODL (Bitcoin Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“To prevent money laundering. So he does face serious, serious charges, and the government's probably going to try to stretch it out a little bit more than he would like. The government, like I said, they're going to go for years of time. I think most likely though, the judge is going to be very lenient on him.”
2023-12-06 · We Study Billionaires · BTC159: Binance, GBTC, FinCEN and More w/ Joe Carlasare & HODL (Bitcoin Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, the government in some file documents said that they're going to go for closer to the maximum statutory amount. So it might be, again, if you ask me what's the judge is going to do, I think it's a couple of years at most, probably less. I think 18 months makes a lot of sense given his cooperative nature. Keep in mind, he did the exact opposite of what SBF did. And if you recall at the time, there's no way SBF doesn't plead. They've got them dead to rights on the facts. Well, CZ is taking the opposite approach. He voluntarily came to the United States. They didn't have to extradite him. He showed in a federal face in a federal courtroom. Said, I plead guilty. I'm not disputing any of these. He's going out of his way to try and be cooperative with the government. That's a huge factor for the judge. The judge is definitely going to take that into consideration. That being said, you know, he knowingly helped get money in the hands of terrorists. He also knowingly helped Iran evade international rule of law.”
2023-12-06 · We Study Billionaires · BTC159: Binance, GBTC, FinCEN and More w/ Joe Carlasare & HODL (Bitcoin Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And guess what? The judge said, No, I'm going to look at this issue. And for now, you're about to stay in the United States.”
2023-12-06 · We Study Billionaires · BTC159: Binance, GBTC, FinCEN and More w/ Joe Carlasare & HODL (Bitcoin Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So there's a whole memorandum that's put in place by the government why they're recommending it. And it's basically a percentage of the laundered money. I don't have all the numbers, some of which are still protected by SEAL, but I think the idea is that you're taking a certain upper threshold of what is, in fact, and it's negotiated, right? It's not necessarily the full amount, but they're going to say we can agree to this and we will support this if the government backs the plea. So I think there was some calculation where they said based on some conservative estimates, it was like 25 to 30 percent of the laundered money. That's how they came up with that calculation. Now keep in mind, that's the government's recommendation. Usually the court will defer to the government on sentencing recommendations, but not always. And we do know that there is some disput still that remains between the government and between CZ's lawyers, right? And most notably, there was a request from CZ's lawyers where he said, let him leave the country, let him go back when he's pending sentencing that doesn't come until February.”
2023-12-06 · We Study Billionaires · BTC159: Binance, GBTC, FinCEN and More w/ Joe Carlasare & HODL (Bitcoin Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And we're going to find you wherever you are and extradite you back to the United States, even though you claim you're not subject to U.S. jurisdiction. Or you can come with us and come along and let's negotiate some agreement you may not like. You may not be comfortable with, but at least you can live with and you might not have the same fate as someone like SBF. So that's an easy calculus, right? That's an easy thing if you're facing certain prosecution from the U.S. government to continue negotiations. And that's why DOJ probably said we're close enough on a deal that we're going to green like this and say, you guys go ahead, SEC, CFTC, you do your thing because we're going to probably get this guy to plea. So that's what happened.”
2023-12-06 · We Study Billionaires · BTC159: Binance, GBTC, FinCEN and More w/ Joe Carlasare & HODL (Bitcoin Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Bars. So, you know, me and some other lawyers in the space were chatting about this, and we're like, this doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I mean, in the CFTC suit against finance, there was actually a allegation that they knowingly aided and abetted funds being transferred to Hamas and to terrorists. And so if you're doing that, if you're knowingly engaging in money laundering, particularly for hostile actors, for nation states like Iran who have negative views of the United States, that violates numerous international and federal laws. And obviously you're doing that knowingly catering to U.S. customers, which gives the DOJ its hook. What was happening? Why was the SEC and why was the CFTC given the green light to go file these charges? Well, we know the answer now. The answer was because even at that point in the spring, they had been an active investigations, active negotiations rather, with Binance and staff to say you're going to pay something. Okay, you can come kicking and screaming.”
2023-12-06 · We Study Billionaires · BTC159: Binance, GBTC, FinCEN and More w/ Joe Carlasare & HODL (Bitcoin Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So let's start back, I think, really 2022. There was a Bloomberg report that came out that said Justice Department was split over charging Binance, which to me very easy interpretation of that is they still need complete some additional investigation that they definitely think there's enough to bring charges, right? But they kind of want to sort of dot all the I's and cross all the T's. And then the confusing thing came is then in the spring, right, we got those back-to-back lawsuits. And I remember being on a podcast with you where, boom, we get the Binance suit and then boom, we get the Coinbase suit back to back within a couple days. And that's really confusing, right? Because usually what happens in these types of investigations, Preston, is that criminal moves first and civil always takes a back seat. The traffic tickets, sort of civil penalties that the SEC brings, those are never going to be as impactful as criminal charges where they're hauling you away in handcuffs and you're facing some time behind.”
2023-12-06 · We Study Billionaires · BTC159: Binance, GBTC, FinCEN and More w/ Joe Carlasare & HODL (Bitcoin Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT